Chris Hughton admitted that his Newcastle side have suffered "ups and downs" this season and though there remains surely only one direction in which they are heading at the end of the campaign, this display was one to forget. The lacklustre visitors were fortunate to escape with a point after battling from behind then surrendering their lead. "Once you get back into the game, it makes it doubly disappointing when you don't finish the job off," was Hughton's downbeat assessment.

In the end, both sides extended their current runs – Newcastle are now 10 unbeaten and remain top, Wednesday are without a win in 11 and remain in the relegation zone – but the Owls left Hillsborough the more satisfied. Hughton's side were sluggish and uncharacteristically lacking in cutting edge – and Marlon Harewood, a peripheral figure here, now returns to Aston Villa with his loan deal expiring – though their comfortable lead at the top of the Championship will soothe frustrations.

"We have no given right to win any game," said the Newcastle manager. "You saw a spirited Sheffield Wednesday side that showed good quality. We'll get that every game we play and we've had that so far, every game that we've played.

"We haven't always played well, but there have been other games when we've played ever so well. The performance today wasn't one of our better performances, but we've had that before. We'll take where we are [in the table]. We've got a home game against Derby in two days' time and what we have been able to do so far when results haven't gone so well is bounce back and that's what we'll aim to do again."

Newcastle had been on the back foot in the opening exchanges and the home side took a deserved lead after 14 minutes. The United defence failed to close down James O'Connor and the midfielder's chipped cross found Luke Varney, who nodded in the Owls' first goal in more than 10 hours of football. Relief washed over Hillsborough, but the home side's fragile confidence soon showed signs of cracking.

The surprise sparked the visitors into action and within eight minutes they were in front. Danny Guthrie picked out Kevin Nolan with a pinpoint cross to the far post and the midfielder intelligently placed his header past Lee Grant. Three minutes later Shola Ameobi received Jonás Guttiérrez's pass (albeit in an offside position), turned past two defenders and wrongfooted Grant with his finish. "We want to try to remove the excuse culture. We didn't want to cry about it," said the Wednesday caretaker manager Sean McAuley of the absence of a linesman's flag. "It's a case of rolling up your sleeves and getting on with it."

McAuley's pragmatic attitude seemed to be shared by his players. Varney, Mark Beevers and Jermaine Johnson all had chances to equalise before Wednesday finally broke through just before the hour. Varney and Steve Harper clashed as they challenged for Tommy Spurr's lofted cross – "He [Harper] was almost certainly impeded," was Hughton's assessment – and the ball dropped to O'Connor, who sidefooted in from close range.

The Newcastle goalkeeper redeemed himself almost immediately, pulling off an astonishing save from Marcus Tudgay's close-range diving header. It denied Wednesday a valuable three points in their battle to avoid relegation, though the result could work wonders for their collective confidence.

"When a team 10 points clear at the top of the league go 2-1 up, you probably fear the worst. But the players' reaction in the second half was spot-on and they deserve all the credit," said McAuley. "Nobody expected us to get anything and we went along with that so it removed a bit of the pressure and stress the players might have been feeling. All we asked them to do was rediscover their form." Newcastle now must do the same.

The Managers' views

Sean McAuley "They're a difficult nut to crack and I think we did really well. Nobody expected us to get anything out of the game, so that took a bit of pressure off. The players deserve all the credit. We were really pleased with the way they approached the game. Maybe if we can get a strong foothold in games coming up, the creativity will follow."

Chris Hughton "It was most definitely a foul for their equaliser, but it wasn't one of our better performances. We have no given right to win any game and we faced a spirited Wednesday side. We didn't start the game well and gave away a poor goal. I think it's disappointing, whenever you lead in a game, if you don't go on and finish the job off."

The Fan's Verdict

Was it a good match? It's an absolutely belting result. For a start, it's more than any Wednesday fan expected. We got a performance today that we haven't seen in the past six or seven games and that was down to three specific players who are mentioned here. Newcastle have got some superb players, but once we got back to 2-2 they lost their momentum. If their keeper Steve Harper hadn't been in such fine form, they wouldn't have got a point. Who played well/who had a nightmare? Luke Varney had the measure of their full-back. Midfielder Darren Potter was back to his best, running, tackling and passing effectively. James O'Connor has been consistently hardworking and ran his socks off for the team. Steve Morris, OwlsAlive.com

To take part in the Fans' Verdict, email fans.championship@observer.co.uk